U. S. Shift Seen in Middle East Showdown !Communal Moods
government severely criticized
the report submitted by United
Nations Secretary General Dag
Hammarskjold last Friday on
Israel's request for assurances
in connection with the UN de-
mand that Israeli troops be
withdrawn from the Gaza Strip
and the tip of Sinai guarding
the • entrance to the Gulf of
Aqaba.
A foreign Office spokesman
termed the Hammarskjold re-
port "negative, unconstructive"
and described some of its sec-
tions as "a masterpiece of ob-
scurity." He charged the Sec-
retary General with "seeking
to restore the regime which al-
ready ended in disaster" and
drew attention to the fact that
Egypt's Foreign Minister
"warmly welcomed" Mr. Ham-
marskjold's report.
M r. Harnmarskjold's report
was also the subject of discus-
sion at a Cabinet meeting here.
Indicative of the mood of the
Cabinet was the fact that the
meeting approved in principle
six projects designed to improve
living conditions, expand agri-
culture in the Gaza Strip and
otherwise strengthen the link
between the Gaza area and
Israel.
The projects approved by
the Cabinet in principle were
sent to a special Ministerial
Committee for approval in
detail. They are: 1. The dis-
patch of agricultural experts
into all parts of the terri-
tory; 2. The expansion of the
weaving industry and harbor
facilities in Gaza itself and
the establishment there of a
children's hospital and a clinic
for the treatment of eye dis-
eases; 3: The introduction of
electricity to the town of
Khan Yunis; 4. Bringing wa-
ter frrigation from Israel's'
_.Israel Blasts Report by
network to Dir el 5.
11iitunarskjold: Cabinet
Drilling new wells and pl
Approves Plan on Gaza
ing trees in Raffah, and 6.
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—After Increasing the water supply
48 hours of silence, the Israel of Djebeliah g n d planting
(Continued from Page 1)
Saud of Saudi Arabia. No reason
was given for Mrs. Meir's action.
The Israel Foreign Mihister
was the only woman invited
to the luncheon. The guest list
of 66 persons was composed of a
large party of Saudi Arabians,
the president and seven vice
presidents of the General As-
sembly, the chairman of the As-
sembly's standing committees,
all members of the Security
Council, five representatives
of the Afro-Asian bloc, present
and former secretaries of the
Arab League and all Foreign
Ministers attending the current
Assembly session.
(King Saud strode by empty
Israeli chairs when he went to
the rostrum to address the UN
Tuesday).
A showdown was set for this
week in the United Nations on
Israel's determination to hold
its positions in the Gaza Strip
and at the Sinai peninsula
southern tip until adequate se-
curity guarantees were forth-
coming.
That stand was set forth
by Prime Minister David Ben-
Gurion in an historic address
to the Israeli Parliament, in
which he bluntly told the
United Nations that Israel
would not withdraw f r o m
Gaza or Sharm el Sheikh,
overlooking t h e Strait of
Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba,
without dependable a s s u r-
ances of security and free-
dom of navigation. .
Those demands were rejected
almost entirely by Secretary
General Dag Hammarskjold, in
his report Friday to the Gen-
eral Assembly on Israel's com-
pliance with the UN Nov. 2
resolution on withdrawal.
trees on the sand dunes
around it.
In blasting the Hammarskjold
report, the Foreign Office
spokesman said that "the report
of the UN Secretary General is
remarkable no less for what it
ignores as for some theories it
prbpounds."
See Dulles in Switch;
Testifies Eisenhower
Program Will Help Israel
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Sec-
retary of State John Foster
Dulles reversed himself on all
previous testimony on the Eisen-
hower Middle East plan with a
statement this week that the
program would insure greater
security to Israel. He said Israel
was in more danger from the
Soviets than from the Arab
States.
He expressed that opinion in
testimony before a joint meet-
ing of the Senate committees
on foreign relations and armed
services, members of which have
been giving the Secretary of
State a rough going-over on his
handling of the Middle East
situation.
Mr. Dulles also was pinned
down f or the first time on
Eisenhower Administration's re-
sistance to making steps to-
ward solution of the Arab-Israel
dispute part of the Eisenhower
"doctrine."
In his testimony, Mr. Dulles
said he thought it would not
be advantageous to link the
A r a b-Israel problem t o the
Eisenhower plan. He made the
statement in answer to a pro-
posal by Senator Wayne Morse,
Oregon Democrat, that the plan
be enlarged to include a warn-
ing to the Arabs and Israelis
that an attack by either would
be opposed by American mili-
tary force.
Egypt Returns _Four
Israeli War Prisoners;
gyptians
, (JTA) — Four
Isra
prisoners were re-
Purely Commentar y: p
turned to Israel after Israeli au-
thorities had turned over some
2,500 Egyptian prisoners of war
to the United Nations Emer-
gency Force. The exchange took
place near the Gaza Strip town
of Raffah where relatives and
friends of the four Israelis, one
of whom had been captured as
long ago as September, 1955,
gathered to greet the returnees.
The four men told similar
stories of torture and mis-
treatment at the hands of
their captors. Lt. Jonathan
Etkes, the pilot who was cap-
tured when his j e t fighter
crashed during the Sinai cam-
paign, seems to have been the
particular recipient of vene-
mous hatred and mistreat-
ment.
Awakened from unconscious-
ness, into which he had slipped
when his plane crashed, by bay-
onet jabbing Egyptian soldiers
determining by this means
whether he was still living, Lt.
Etkes was "interrogated" by
being kicked in his wounded
leg, knocked to the floor and
then methodically kicked for
hours. In between, he was burn-
ed with live cigarette butts
about the lips and in the armits.
One eye was still noticeably
bruised today where he had
been hit by a jailor.
The prisoners will receive
home leave and then will be
assigned to their former units.
A r i eh Annikster, 23-year-old
soldier, was captured near the
Gaza Strip in September, 1955.
The other two, Alexander
Rosenberg, 23, a n d Shimon
Cohenna, 21, both border po-
licemen, were captured near
Nitzana in October, 1955. In ad-
dition to stories of brutal beat-
ings, the prisoners revealed that
they were kept on a near star-
vation diet and only given de-
cent bedding and clean quar-
ters on the very rare occasions
when they were visited by Red
Cross or UN representatives.
A Reply to an Erring Confrere
o r e the
on
e de Co
Confused
u sRe f and
ua g ee MIsi s u i net.e r-
Arab Refugee
Jan. 25, 1957
Editor
New York Herald Tribune
230 W. 41st St.
New York 36, N. Y.
Dear Sir:
- It is difficult to recover from the shock and amazement after
reading, in the article "A Middle Eastern Double Standard " by
Marguerite Higgins, in your issue of Jan. 21, the comment—"as
witness Israel's explusion of nearly a million Arabs during and
after the 1948 conflict."
We have been used to thinking of Miss Higgins as a person
who, by virtue of her close contact with the United Nations, as a
regular participant in Meet-the-Press programs, should be well
informed about the basic facts involved in the Israel situation.
Instead, she subscribes to such an astonishing statement. It is
astonishing and shocking from the points of view of her charge
of "expulsion" as well as the exaggerated figure she has quoted.
Surely, Miss Higgins must have read the Israeli Declaration
of Independence of May 14 , 1 94R. in the State of Israel
called "the Arab inhabitants of Israel to return to the ways of
peace."
Surely; Miss Higgins listens attentively to those with whom
she has appeared on scores of programs—Israelis who have in-
dicated that the Arabs were asked to remain in Israel, that they
were encouraged to leave the newborn State by their propagan-
dist leaders who assured them that they would soon return to
acquire. the property -of the Jews who had built the foundations
for their State, with their sweat and their blood since 1882, when
the first settlers established the first Jewish colonies in Palestine.
The fact, Sir, is.that in Palestine, at the time of the formation
of the Jewish State, using statistics provided by the British
Mandatory Power, there were 747,300 Arabs, of whom nearly
150,000 remained in the land. This leaves a maximum of 597,300
Arabs. who fled from the country at the time when the Arab
states combined their forces to attack Israel; in the early days
of the State when Israel's neighbors mobilized their overwhelm-
ing forces to destroy her. -
( This is far from being a final figure. It has been estimated
that close to 20 per cent of the Arabs who fled from Israel
emigrated to other countries, that professionals were absorbed
in their occupations in neighboring and other lands, and that
the actual figure of Arabs who became homeless in May 1948
was below the 500,000 figure.
As a matter of fact, the first UNRWA, in 1949, quoted the
figure of Arab refugees, in all camps, as 600,000. The Arab
population of the territory now known as Israel was given by
the British Mandatory officials has having been 800,000—and
that included those who remained in the land.
Yet, Miss Higgins repeats the vilest propaganda figure—that
of a million—in reference to the refugee question.
And she coupled it with the comment of "expulsion!" This
is a grossly unfair assertion, in view of the statement made on
Aug., 12, 148. in the lekndon Daily Mail, by no less an authority
By Philip
Slomovitz
than General John Baggott Glubb, that "the Arab civilian popu-
lation panicked and fled ignominiously." "Fleeing" is not
"expulsion."
There are countless sources to prove that Miss Higgins'
double-edged attack is unjustified. You must remember that
when the Arab states attacked Israel, it was marked by clarion
calls in which a top position was given to the assertion of
Azzam Pasha, secretary general of the Arab League: "This will
be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which
will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres - and the
Crusades." It was with such calls that Arab leaders asked their
people to leave Palestine, .while, in Haifa, as a typical example
of Jewish attitudes, attempts were made to induce the Arabs
to remain. On April 21, 1948, in Haifa, a truce was concluded
between Arab and Jewish leaders that the Arab population was
to continue its normal life in the city. But the Haifa Arabs,-
pressured by neighboring countries, reversed their decision and
the very next day 70,000 of them left for Lebanon. They thus
created a problem not only for Israel but also for Lebanon.
How does Miss' Higgins reconcile the points she has made
with the statement of Emil el-Ghoury, member of the Palestine
Arab Higher Committee and former Arab commander of the
Jerusalem area, in the Daily Telegraph of Beirut: "The problem
of the Arab refugees is the net result of the resistance policy
to the partition of Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish
State. This policy was unanimously agreed upon by the Arab
States and it is they who must bear the consequences for solving
the refugee problem."
When the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Pales-
tine Refugees (UNRWA) distributed 860,000 rations, on May 1,
1950, the UNRWA director, General Howard Kennedy, ex-
plained a discrepancy as between "mathematical calculations" of
bona fide refugees and "hundreds of thousands of hungry Arabs
claiming need." General Kennedy, in his statement before the
UN Ad Hoc Political Committee, on Nov. 1, 1950, referred to
"the 600,000 refugees."
A lot of confusion has been created by the refugee prob-
lem. Factual reports have indicated that as many as '70,000
names were improperly inscribed in the refugee rolls in Jordan
alone. A former representative of UNRWA in Jordan, Mr.
Galloway, told a group of Americans in Amman: "It is per-
fectly clear that the Arab nations do not want to solve the Arab
refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore as an
affront against the United Nations, and a weapon against
Israel. Arab leaders don't give a damn whether the refugees
live or die."
Yet, "expulsion" of a vastly exaggerated number of people
is charged to Israel, and so eminent a person becomes a party to
the spread of a frightful libel. -
How can we possibly continue to look to Miss Higgins as an
"authority," under such circumstances, the next time we either
read her articles in your paper or see her at a Meet-the-Press
conference?
Cordially yours,
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
for • Larger Gifts
and Zionist Issues
.
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1957, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)
* * *
There is a mood in all Jewish
communities that Israel must
this year get from American
Jewry more financial aid than
even in 1948 . . The contribu-
tions to the United Jewish Ap-
peal in 1948 — the year which
marked the highest point of
Jewish giving in the United
States — amounted to about
$150,000,000. . • Several in-
dividual g i f ts of $500,000,
$300,000, $250,000 and $100,000
have already been pledged to-
ward this year's UJA drive .. .
The Council of the Jewish Fed-
erations and Welfare Funds has
embarked on a campaign of
stimulating local Jewish leader-
ship in all communities to make
1957 -a year of greatest giving in
Jewish history . . . Herbert R.
Abeles, CJFWF president, has
sent out a letter to all presi-
dents and executives of the 800
welfare funds, urging them to
make fund-raising the top order
of business on communal
agendas this year . . . In addi-
tion to contacting the "big
givers," the communities will
concentrate on getting larger
contributions from donors who
have hitherto contributed $500
to $1,000 . . . UJA leaders feel
that in this category of con-
tributors there are many who
could donate $25,000 and $50,000
. . An interesting analysis on
the 1957 outlook in philan-
thropic giving has been made
by Isidore Sobeloff, executive
vice president of the Detroit
Jewish Welfare Federations .
This analysis is now being dis-
seminated by the CJFWF among
communities throughout t h e
country, giving them an inside,
view of thinking among Jewish
leaders in the larger cities with
regard to the fund-raising ob-
ligations this year.
* * *
Zionist Issues:
Developments in and around
Israel have overshadowed many
issues in American Jewish life,
including the fight between the
American Independent Zionists
and the Zionist Organization of
America .- The fight has been
going on for some time, but it
has assumed a new impetus in
connection with the forthcoming
conference of the Independent.
Zionists in March . . . Actually,
the Independent Zionists •con-
sist of a group of important men
in the American Zionist move-
ment who have basic disagree-
ments with the ZOA . . . They
include people like Louis Lip-
sky, Judge Louis E. Levinthal,
Dewey D. Stone and a few
dozen others . . . However, for
the time being, these generals
of the General Zionist move-
ment are without an army .
The army — the more than
100,000 members of the General
Zionist movement—is under the
ZOA influence, because the ZOA
is in control of the party ma-
chinery throughout the country.
Current developments in and
around Israel have over-
shadowed the issue - of vialting
all Zionist groups in the United
states into .a territorial federa-
tion . . . A decision to this
effect was adopted at the last
World Zionist Congress, and Dr.
Nahum Goldmann is determined
to see" it carried out . . . There
has been opposition to such a
federation in this country from
some of the Zionist groups who
fear that they may lose their
present strength if they become
part of a federated territorial
organization . The matter
would have come to a climax
now, were it not for current
developments in Israel which
require utmost attention on the
part of Zionist leadership in the
U.S. in the field of political
rather than internal organiza-
tional work..._